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National | Covid-19 Testing

Two deaths, 2365 new cases; 116 hospitalised with Covid

While community cases dropped to 2,365 confirmed today by the Ministry of Health, hospitalisations have continued to climb.

Of the new community cases, 50 are in Northland, 1692 in Auckland, 136 in Waikato, 42 in Bay of Plenty, 24 in Lakes, 23 in Hawke's Bay, 14 in Mid Central, five in Whanganui, four in Taranaki, nine in Tairāwhiti, eight in Wairarapa, 89 in Capital & Coast, 19 in Hutt Valley, 58 in Nelson-Marlborough, 105 in Canterbury, one in South Canterbury and 86 in Southern DHBs.

The ministry is also reporting a death of a patient at Middlemore hospital. No further details will be released out of respect for the family.

Another death is also being reported for an Auckland City Hospital patient in their 70s, following a Covid-19 diagnosis.

Just 12 cases were detected at the border, of which all are in managed isolation and quarantine.

The active total is now at 15,928, with confirmed cases since the pandemic began now at 32,927.

There are 116 people with Covid-19 receiving hospital-level care. One of these is in Northland, 20 are in North Shore, 34 in Middlemore, 47 in Auckland, one each in Tauranga and Tairāwhiti and 12 in Waikato hospitals. One person is in an ICU ward.

In the northern regions only, 14 of the hospitalisations are unvaccinated, three cases are partially vaccinated, 78 cases are fully vaccinated at least seven days before being reported as a case and one case is of unknown status.

Counties Manukau DHB has now reached the 90% milestone for Māori who have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

More than 15,000 booster doses were given out yesterday, while 1,338 people received their first doses, 649 receive their second dose and 1,122 paediatric doses were administered.

Rapid Antigen Testing in Auckland

From this morning, rapid antigen tests are now available at Auckland Community Testing Centres only to those who fit the appropriate clinical criteria. The site will determine which test (PCR or a rapid antigen test) is best for you.

Access to rapid antigen tests will be expanded further during the coming week.  At this time, please do not visit your GP for a RAT test or call them for guidance on RAT eligibility at Community Testing Centres. We will be providing further updates on the rollout throughout this week.

As the outbreak grows, more people will have COVID-19 and there will be more close contacts we need to test. As planned, we will now increase the use of RATs in phase 2 and phase 3 of our response in order to relieve pressure on the PCR testing and reserve it for those most likely to have COVID-19.

Remember, only those with symptoms or who have been identified as close contacts of a case, or directed by a health professional to get tested, should be turning up at testing sites.

People who are directed to have a rapid antigen test will be given advice on what to do if they have a positive result. At the current time, they will likely be advised that they need to have a PCR test to confirm the positive result.